


Coined

by WriterWrong



Category: Original Work
Genre: Children, F/F, F/M, Homeless Man - Freeform, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Lesbian Kiss, Lucky Fountain, coins, pregnancy reveal, revival
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-12-22 01:03:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11956443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WriterWrong/pseuds/WriterWrong
Summary: There’s a fountain that grants your wish once your coin has been plucked from it three or more days later. These are the stories of two families that have their coins plucked from the fountain.





	Coined

**Author's Note:**

> I was scrolling through Pinterest and found this idea. I thought it was really cool so I decided to do it. I hope you like it. Feel free to leave comments about what you like and what you don’t. :)

     There was an age old spell on the Drake Fountain in Kenora, Ontario. If you wished upon a coin and threw it in, someone taking the coin out three or more days later made the come true. There were three catches. You couldn’t take out your own coin, even by accident. If you did find your own, you were given a handful of coins by the next person you saw to retry the process. It was the same result for someone who got their coin pulled before the three day period. The third catch was you were limited to one wish granted per two week period. Once again, you were just given coins by the next person you saw if you had two or more coins pulled within two weeks. This was counterproductive if you asked some of the townsfolk, but spells were spells.

     As of late, there was a homeless man who never made a wish but took out a handful of coins out every week. It always happened on Sundays after church. He said it was because God always spoke to him to tell him to make the days of strangers.  
Like clockwork, today was no different. He strolled up to the fountain with his basket of variously decorated coins. He reached in and pulled out the first one he saw from the fountain. Luckily, it was that of a three-day nature.

  
     A young man next to him smiled at him when he noticed the special coin the homeless man was holding. “Oh! My coin!” He smiled from ear to ear. “I put it in there on my anniversary on Tuesday. It has the year we got married on it–2014–and it’s an Alberta quarter. That’s where we got married because her family is there. It even has our initials on it. See!” The young man pointed to both sides of the coin. Scrawled in black permanent marker were the initials **FS** on the caribou and **QS** on Queen Elizabeth’s head. 

  
     The homeless man smiled back and dropped the coin in the bucket. “Hope it was an excellent wish.” He went back to collecting coins before the young man had a chance to respond.

  
     Just then, a cellphone tone rang through the plaza. The young man beamed when he saw that it was his wife calling. He immediately answered and put it on speakerphone. “Yes, honey?”

  
     “Our wish; it came true!” She said elatedly. It was evident she was on speakerphone as well because she clasped her hands together. “I’m pregnant!”

  
     Tears welled in the young man’s eyes. He looked at the homeless man and beamed, once again from ear to ear. “Thank you so much! You’ve helped us get over three years of infertility.”

  
     “You’re with the homeless man? Oh my goodness! Thank you so much, sir! We’re going to take you to dinner to thank you,” The wife responded. She was over the moon with emotion in this moment.

  
     “That’s not necessary,” the homeless man said. He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck to put up a front of discomfort. Secretly, he was grateful for this couple. They were the first to offer him any sort of thanks even though he wasn’t really looking for any. He had been doing this good deed for a full year as of today.

  
     “Nonsense! We’re going to your favourite restaurant tonight.”

  
     The homeless man put down his bucket and sat on the edge of the fountain. He had only collected a couple more coins. He was thinking about the other two people that he was going to make happy. His favourite restaurant wasn’t at the forefront of his mind because it was just a simple place.

  
     “It’s just McDonald’s.” The homeless man bowed in on himself. He was a little embarrassed because this couple was offering to take him out to dinner and the only place he wanted to go was McDonald’s. They even seemed willing to pay whatever amount the homeless man said the meal would cost. “I’ve grown fond of the Big Macs. My mother brought me there after every test I passed as a boy. I kept going until I couldn’t afford to last year.”

  
     “McDonald’s for three Big Macs it is,” responded the husband.

  
     The homeless man smiled at the young man as he walked away talking to his wife about things they would need for their baby.

  
     Unbeknownst to either man or the woman, across town, a young mother was struggling to make ends meet. She was raising three sons on her own after her wife died in Afghanistan. It had been a struggle for them because all of the boys were under the age of seven. The missed their mama and wondered why she wasn’t coming home. The oldest was just beginning to understand why. It was breaking his mother’s heart, watching her son go through this.

  
     Her only wish was that the boys could see their mama one last time. She made the wish the day after she died seven months ago. And kept making it every day ever since. Luckily for her, the homeless man pulled one of her older coins. 

  
     She was sitting in the living room watching cartoons with the three-year-old when she heard a soft _swoosh_ behind her. She swivelled around in the recliner. A heart attack nearly happened because standing there clear as the sunshine was her _deceased_ wife, Daniella.

  
     “My wish came true!” She rushed over and wrapped Daniella in a hug. A shiver ran down her spine in being able to wrap her wife in a hug. Daniella eyed the three-year-old longingly. “I hope Carson can see you.” She let out a shaky breath grabbing Daniella’s hand.  
The two walked over to the couch and sat down beside their son. He noticed immediately that his mama was right there beside him. Carson reached out and squeezed Daniella’s hand.

  
     “Mama. Home,” Carson said smiling from ear to ear. He reached out again, this time with his arms. He was asking mama for a hug. Daniella graciously obliged her son.

  
     That broke his mother, Bethany’s, heart. The poor child thought his mama was home to stay. That was the downfall to wishing for this with a three-year-old. He wouldn’t understand that mama would have to go when this was over in an hour or so. The seven-year-old, Daniel, would probably understand. As for the five-year-old, Eric, the jury would be out on him until he had to let mama go again.

  
     “Daniel! Eric!” Bethany called. “Come here! We have a visitor.”

  
     Both boys came rushing from their respective rooms. They always loved when company came over. It meant they had people to share their day with. They were both the Chatty Cathy type when it came to discussing things. Carson seemed to be the reserved one, just like Daniella. He was the one that she had given birth to after all. Bethany had given birth to Daniel and Eric.

  
     Daniel stopped in his tracks when he saw who it was; Eric rushed over and fell to a heap in Daniella’s lap. He sobbed his eyes out. As he lay there getting comfort from his mama. If Bethany was to judge right in this second on a second thought, Eric wouldn’t understand that mama had to go.

  
     “Honey, what’s wrong?” Bethany asked her son.

  
     “Mama’s supposed to be...” Daniel paused looking for the right word, “dead.” He looked perplexed to even be seeing her. That didn’t surprise Bethany; it perplexed herself that Daniella was here.

  
     Looks like Daniel would understand that mama wouldn’t be coming back after she left. That was heartbreaking that he finally understood. It was worse than his brothers. They wouldn’t remember this visit come tomorrow or Tuesday. Daniel would hold onto it for the rest of his days, if Bethany had to guess.

  
     Hesitantly, Daniel came over and wrapped his arms around Daniella’s chest. The bullet wound that claimed her life was still prominent, even through her shirt. It rubbed against his skin like sandpaper. Daniel jolted his hand away, as if it had been burned. Daniella took his hand and rubbed it, planting featherlight kisses on it to make her son feel better. Not a word fell from her lips.

  
     Bethany was a little unnerved that Daniella hadn’t said a word. Maybe ghostly people couldn’t communicate with their living loved ones. Or maybe she wanted the children to do all the talking. The latter wasn’t going over well. The three boys were only clinging to their mama’s side. None of them had really said anything about the matter at hand, least of all Eric. He was always the shy quiet type. Nobody was sure where he got that from because Bethany was very outgoing and loud. Bethany had a hunch it was from the sperm donor she had used or he had picked it up from his mama. Either way, it made her son no less lovable.

  
     “There’s actually a surprise to all this,” Daniella said her voice a little hoarse. Bethany only assumed that reviving took a lot out of you. “The people behind the spell on the fountain have been so impressed with how you’ve been taking care of our boys that they’ve granted us a second wish.”

  
     “Really? What is it?” Bethany smiled softly wondering what the possibilities could be.

  
     Tears welled in the corners of Daniella’s eyes. She wiped them away as best she could with three boys all over her. “They’ve granted me the gift of life. I’m alive, sweetheart.”  
She reached over and grabbed Bethany’s hand. Daniella placed it over her heart. Bethany about died on the spot when she felt the heartbeat radiating underneath her palm. How could this be happening? They had buried her seven months ago. A Taliban sniper had shot her right through this very spot with a body armour piercing round. 

     Was this all a fever dream? Something brought on by one of her severe depressive states? Bethany sure hoped not.

  
     “Is this really happening?” Bethany felt tears streaming down her face. She wanted this so desperately to be true. For her sake and for the boys’ sake. She had struggled so desperately to make ends meet in the seven months that Daniella was gone. With her back, hopefully she could find a job and help keep them afloat.

  
     “Yes, sweetheart. I’m alive just like you and the boys. I’ll be around until something else kills me.” Daniella smiled through her tears. She backed Daniel away from her so she could hug Bethany. That was something she hadn’t done since a couple of minutes prior. Before that, she hadn’t done it since she had deployed eight months before her death. It felt just as wonderful now as it had the last two times. For good measure, they shared a passionate kiss.

  
     “Mommies! Gross!” Eric spoke for the first time since he entered the room. Daniella and Bethany chuckled together as they took turns ruffling his hair. He stuck his tongue out at each of them because he was a neat freak when it came to how he kept his hair. It had to look exactly like Josh Donaldson’s or else he wasn’t happy. The boy definitely didn’t get his vanity from either mother. They were both humble about their appearances. This was something he picked up on his own or got from the sperm donor.

  
      Daniella and Bethany gathered the boys in a group with them and pulled out Bethany’s phone. They snapped a family selfie for the first time since Carson was born three years ago. Bethany was going to post this on Facebook at the first available opportunity. Backlash was something she was going to have to deal with. For now, she was going to be happy with her family. It was whole again.

**Author's Note:**

> Just made up the fountain. I don’t live anywhere near Kenora, though I do live in Ontario. Not sure if there’s actually a fountain of any kind there. If there is, I’m magical! If there isn’t, just pretend for the sake of the story. XD


End file.
